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KDE is the K Desktop Environment.
KDE is a project initiated by Matthias Ettrich in 1996. The aim of the KDE project is to connect the power of the Unix operating systems with the comfort of a modern user interface.
In short: KDE will bring UNIX to the desktop!
If you want further information about KDE, have a look at What is KDE?
Nothing -- it is simply the K Desktop Environment, just like the X in the X Window System.
KDE is a Desktop Environment for all flavours of Unix. While it is true that most KDE developers use Linux, KDE runs smoothly on a wide range of systems. You may however need to tweak the source code a bit to get KDE to compile on a not-so-popular variant of Unix, or if you are not using the GNU development tools, in particular the gcc compiler.
Some of systems on which KDE is running are:
No, KDE is not a window manager. While KDE includes a very sophisticated window manager called KWM, KDE is much more than that--it is a full-blown Integrated Desktop Environment (IDE).
KDE provides a complete desktop environment, including a file manager, a window manager, a help system, a configuration system, uncountable tools and utilities, and an ever increasing number of applications, including but not limited to mail and news clients, drawing programs, a PostScript and a DVI viewer and so forth.
No, KDE is not a clone. Specifically KDE is not a CDE or Windows clone. While the KDE developers have and will continue to glean the best features from all existing desktop environments KDE is a truly unique environment that has and will continue to go its own way.
Yes, KDE is free software according to the GNU General Public License. All KDE libraries are available under the LGPL making commercial software development for the KDE desktop possible, all KDE applications are licensed under the GPL.
KDE uses the Qt C++ crossplatform toolkit, which comes with its own license.
In short, Qt's license allows you to use Qt free of charge for development of X Windows software as long as you make the source code of your applications freely available. If you do not wish to make the source code of your applications written using Qt available for free, you must obtain a commercial license for Qt. You can find more information about the Qt and its license on Troll Tech web site.
If you are in doubt about which license is appropriate for you, please contact Troll Tech directly.
It is absolutely legal to make KDE and Qt available on CD free of charge. No runtime fees of any kind are incurred.
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